


Knowledge is the ultimate weapon

by livrelibre



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Community: fannish_library_fest, Gen, Libraries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-25
Updated: 2011-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-19 11:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livrelibre/pseuds/livrelibre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His questions were certainly never boring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knowledge is the ultimate weapon

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [Fannish Library Fest](http://fannish-library-fest.dreamwidth.org/5557.html). [Podfic available](http://fannish-library-fest.dreamwidth.org/7988.html) by somnolentblue
> 
> Spoilers though S6. Thanks to thingswithwings for the initial beta. All changes, mistakes, indulgences, and liberties with library research are my own. Title from Buffy the Vampire Slayer quote.

My job is to search and not to question why, but I have to admit, I wondered about Ballcap Guy. He came in to the university library pretty regularly and looked about as backwoods as they came, but I'd learned early on in my job not to judge a book by its cover. All kinds of people came in looking for all kinds of information, and I'd learned not to be surprised (or at least not to show it) no matter what anyone asked. It was none of my business anyway; my job was just to help them find it and not pry beyond helping them figure out what they were really looking for. Unlike most of the students who came in, this man knew exactly what he needed, and usually it was pretty arcane and often old. After awhile, he practically knew as much about our religion, folklore and anthropology collections as the subject librarians and spent more time in special collections than most of our faculty. His steady stream of ILL requests kept us busy as well.

Though we couldn’t really inquire too much, that didn't mean we couldn't speculate. He wasn’t a current student, faculty, or staff member; he couldn’t access our online databases off-campus. Maybe he was a retired professor or alum? But he wasn’t in the directory as such. Maybe he was writing a genre novel, but if so, he hadn’t written anything before; a search in Worldcat didn’t bring up any likely candidates. Maybe he was one of those crackpots who came in and scribbled bits down for their manifestos that were sure to blow the conspiracy wide-open. But he didn’t have the requisite air of wild-eyed intensity or quiet muttering. One of my colleagues said, half-jokingly, that maybe he was a latter-day Anton LaVey feeding his research into demon-summoning rituals with the cult at his backwoods compound. As if!

At least his questions were never "Where's the bathroom?" or "Could I get more paper for the copier?" One semester it was a check on archives holding the 1574 edition of Malleus Maleficarum, pre-1800 images of devil's traps, or information on the mechanics of Colt guns; the next it was books on Enochian symbols, references to the apocalypse, and the last year of weather data from six US cities. Boring, his requests weren't.

I got the feeling that whatever he was doing, the story behind it wasn't boring either. He'd disappear for awhile and then turn up looking harried and sometimes like he'd been beaten up. He once disappeared for months and only contacted us by phone, email and chat. Apparently ILL was scanning and sending material to him regularly, and he was using the special collections reproductions service and online chat reference (I overheard Donna and Carol talking about the frequency of the requests and also just happened to be checking the chat queue for something else, really) but no visits. And then one day he was just back, looking a little worse for wear (though it was hard to tell). I happened to be on desk when he came in and I smiled.

"Hi, welcome back! We missed seeing you around here."

His bushy eyebrows climbed toward his cap. "I had a bit of an accident and couldn't get up and around for awhile."

"I'm sorry to hear that! I'm glad you're feeling better." And I meant that. The regulars get to be part of our routine, and I always wonder a little when people disappear.

"Well, thanks, you and me both." He tugged at his ballcap a little awkwardly, and I smoothly slid back into the professional routine.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for anything on Faust and demonic deals."

"What kind of material? The play, background, criticism? Or maybe anthropological accounts?"

"Everything."

I'd learned he didn't play around when he said everything, and he really wasn't kidding this time. We must have dredged up everything possible on Faust specifically and demonic deals in general in literature, folklore and religion. We'd already done this search once before, but he seemed determined to go over it all again with a fine tooth comb. He started to look the undergrads the day before a paper was due. I hadn't seen him look this worried since his apocalyptic reference phase. I found myself spending time outside of work looking up likely leads.

Then all of a sudden I got an email about urgent research on Scottish history and ancestry and after that, radio silence. I didn’t see Ballcap Guy again until awhile later. He looked a lot better.

"So, more demonic deals?" I asked as he came up to the ref desk. He looked a little twitchy for a moment. "Or are you looking for something else today?"

He relaxed minutely. "Oh, yeah. I got that problem solved."

"Great! Is there something else I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for references about imprisonment of souls in Hell or soulless beings-biblical first then literary."

“Well that’s a tall order, but we’ll see what we can do. I think a lot of us are looking for our souls,” I joked.

He grinned briefly. “Well, I’d say you got a pretty good handle on yours. You’ve sure been a help to me. A lifesaver, really.” He looked a little awkward but sincere.

Now those are words that warm every librarian’s heart. I tried to wrestle my unseemly grin down or at least aim it at my keyboard. “Well, that’s what I’m here for. I’m glad I could be of help.”

“You have no idea.”

I coughed and said, “Now let’s see what we have in the catalog.” And off we went again. One thing you could say about him, his questions were never boring.


End file.
